More than half of vehicle accidents are caused when a vehicle departs from a lane of travel due to, for example, driver distraction during driving, even in the case where the driver looks ahead.
To prevent an unintentional lane departure, a lane departure warning system has been proposed. Such a departure warning system detects departure of the vehicle from the lane of travel by using a camera installed in the vehicle, and alerts the driver about the departure by a warning means, such as a flashing lamp and/or an audio device. However, such a system can be expensive.
A lane departure warning mirror for a vehicle is proposed herein. In one embodiment, the lane departure warning mirror includes a reflecting member and a supporting member that supports the reflecting member on an area of a vehicle within a driver peripheral vision area. The reflecting member is disposed so that an edge mark, such as a center line marker, a road side mark, road side guard rail, edge or curb stone, or any other mark representing an edge of a lane or road, in a detection area is mirrored.
Accordingly, the lane departure warning mirror disclosed herein is capable of warning a driver about an imminent lane departure at minimal cost so that the driver may take an appropriate action.